www.knocknamuckleybb.co.uk

Match Report · Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Posts: 128

U-18 v Ahorey
(7-a-side, League Stage)
27/01/2007

Knocknamuckley had their second game in two days, when they took on Ahorey in their second game of the Lurgan BBOB 7-a-side group stage. The Knocknamuckley team showed three changes to the starting line up, with a further change on the bench from the team which faced Lurgan BBOB the previous evening.

Knocknamuckley made the perfect start, when they took the lead within two seconds of the kick-off. The ball was touched forward straight from the kick-off with Gregg Harrison immediately trying his luck with a shot. The ball was struck low into the bottom left hand corner, giving the goalkeeper no chance.

Ahorey managed to pull the scores level, after some sloppy marking by Knocknamuckley gifted them a chance.

Harrison nearly regained the lead for Knocknamuckley, but his volley flew wide. Muckley then strung a nice move together, through Adam McKeown, who was linking the play beautifully. A clearance out f defence was picked up by McKeown, who played in Harrison. Harrison’s shot was saved, but McKeown readjusted to volley the rebound into the net emphatically.

This sparked a period of Muckley pressure, as Simon Grey shot wide following an Ahorey clearance. McKeown saw an effort fly over the bar following a nice passing move, and it was again McKeown who was unlucky, after controlling the ball with his chest and turning, the Ahorey goalkeeper proved equal to his shot. A corner from Harrison was played into the box hard with a low trajectory, but after a deflection of an Ahorey defender the ball drifted wide, leaving Muckley with a one goal advantage at the break.

Half time 1st Knocknamuckley 2 v 1 Ahorey

Ahorey came out brightly after half-time. As an Ahorey forward bore down on goal, Seth Mathers was forced into a powerful save, when the forward was just faced with the Muckley keeper between him and goal. The Ahorey forward was tossed in the air during this collision, but was, thankfully, uninjured. Ahorey inched closer to getting back on level terms when they struck the outside of the post with a volley, Mathers putting just enough pressure on the striker to make the chance difficult.

Knocknamuckley did relieve some of the Ahorey pressure when a long throw was flicked on by an Ahorey defender and flew just over the bar.

Ahorey looked certain to have pulled themselves back on level terms, when an excellent low shot from the left hand side beat Mathers in the Muckley goal and crashed off the inside of the right hand post, only to rebound across goal and away to safety, after looking for all the world as if it was in.

Knocknamuckley began to re-take control o the match, and a clever Harrison corner picked out Jonathan Mawhinney at the edge of the box, who was unlucky to fire over.

Grey played Harrison in, down the right hand channel. Harrison managed to square the ball across goal, taking the goalkeeper out of the equation, and picking out John Henderson who had made an intelligent run, who stretched to knock the ball in and give his side a two goal cushion.

Spectators nearly got to witness a contender for goal of the season moments later. Colin Irwin, who had been introduced as a second half substitute, picked the ball up on the left wing. Irwin firstly beat his man down the outside with a neat touch, before turning inside him, to beat him for the second time, and then fired a vicious right foot shot towards goal. The shot was rising toward the top right hand corner, only for the goalkeeper to get a vital touch and turn it away for a corner.

Ahorey managed to pull a goal back, after some sloppy play from Muckley. Grey carelessly lost possession at the back, gifting the Ahorey forward a clean run through on goal.

Despite this mistake, the Knocknamuckley victory never looked too much in danger in the closing minutes, as Colly Irwin had a shot saved, and McKeown had an effort blocked on the line.

This concludes Knocknamuckley’s participation in the group stages, with two wins out of two, and means that they can now concentrate on their Northern Ireland Cup game next week, as they await the draw for the knock-out stages.

Full time 1st Knocknamuckley 3 v 2 Ahorey

Team- Mathers; Grey, Calvert; Harrison, Henderson, Mawhinney; McKeown: C.Irwin.

Goals- Harrison, McKeown, Henderson.